


Telltale Signs

by aliaholic



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-10
Updated: 2015-07-10
Packaged: 2018-04-08 15:37:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4310805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliaholic/pseuds/aliaholic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It clicks because Dick is up there, and he's down here looking like an idiot with the goofiest smile plastered on his freckled face. It clicks because Robin is at home up there, lithe body moving with grace and power and elegance, all smiles and laughs with his hair flying about his face as he plunges through the air like it's as easy as breathing. </p>
<p>It clicks, because Dick is a maniac, and Wally absolutely loves watching his little bird fly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Telltale Signs

**Author's Note:**

> Been an avid Birdflash follower for a couple of years now, and I just recently started re-watching the series, and they hit me in all the feels so I thought I'd give it a go and decided to write this. First ever Birdflash fic, so yes do enjoy, and blah blah. My tumblr is www.3alo.tumblr.com because I am lonely and need friends.

He notices the first sign while they're out on a recon mission. Another get-in-get-out scenario. Of course, with the team, it's never that easy, so they're always prepared when havoc wreaks. They're hiding behind some crates, watching Miss Martian in the form of a gruff, bearded man as she make plans with a drug dealer. She's pushing for a little more than just a supply though; she wants to know where it's coming from. That gets the drug lord a little more than suspicious, and he starts threatening Miss Martian with a gun. Superboy immediately rises to his feet when the gun is pointed a little too close to Miss Martian for his liking, and he jumps out from his hiding spot and starts clunking together the heads of the many goons surrounding the area. So much for stealth.

 

And that's when it happens. Wally and Robin have a good view of each other from behind the crates, so they turn to each other just as Superboy lets out a massive roar, and leap into action.

 

Robin hasn't been with the team for as long as he's been with Batman, that's obvious. So when it comes to his mentor, Robin doesn't even need to speak to the older hero when they're on missions. They get in, and get the job done with a few hand gestures at most. It seemed almost natural now, after training and fighting and planning together for years. He realizes then that he needs little communication with Wally as well.

 

His team is amazing, and they can pull off some pretty coordinated, not to mention kick-ass, attacks. But that usually needs a mental link and discussing beforehand, because with a team this large with this many teenagers, they cannot afford to let things turn sour. After looking through Kid Flash's tinted yellow goggles, Robin decides that he doesn't need a mental link to fight with him. They just, _look at each other_. They fight alongside and cause immense damage and protect each others' backs with such ferocity that it's almost scary.

 

Robin doesn't stop thinking about this bond on the battlefield that he has with Wally as they're making their way back in the bioship.

 

...

 

KF notices the second sign.

 

It doesn't happen on missions, but it sure does happen a lot any other time.

 

He notices that Dick's got a little smile. And, he doesn't mean that he notices that Dick smiles, because that's just dumb.

 

No, he notices a smile that Dick smiles that's, different. It's not the usual cackle that echoes everywhere when he's toying with bad guys, or the laugh that rings through the air when Conner does something awkward, or the snickering muffled by his gloves when Artemis berates Wally for his eating habits. It's smaller, and more reserved, and kind of cute, really. And after careful inspection (Dick isn't the _only_ one who can play detective), he proudly notes that the smiles are usually caused by something the scarlet speedster said or did himself.

 

Dick's blue eyes look to the ground, and the corners of his lips upturn ever so slightly, and Wally's glad he's got such a wonderful friend.

 

...

 

KF is on a streak here, since he's realized the third sign as well.

 

They're at Haly's Circus, and he's watching Robin, equally as flabbergasted as the audience is as he soars and leaps through the air.

 

Another mission, another task, but Wally let's that rest at the back of his mind, because he's absolutely mesmerized by Dick at the moment.

 

And it clicks.

 

It clicks because Dick is up there, and he's down here looking like an idiot with the goofiest smile plastered on his freckled face. It clicks because Robin is at home up there, lithe body moving with grace and power and elegance, all smiles and laughs with his hair flying about his face as he plunges through the air like it's as easy as breathing.

 

Because to him, it is.

 

Wally wants to rush up to Robin and pick him up in the best hug he's ever given and let the boy's laughter fill his ears because it might just be one of the best sounds he's ever heard. And from up there, the most sincere.

 

It clicks, because Dick is a maniac, and Wally absolutely loves watching his little bird fly.

 

...

 

Batman is going to kill him for it. Give him a relentless, three hour lecture about safety and caution, and wait for Dick to silently agree.

 

He's let his guard down. And he blames a certain kid with a ridiculously high metabolism.

 

It's been hard wired into his system. Always be on the lookout, always be alert, because danger lurks in every corner. Except, when he's with Wally, he feels like nothing can get to him. He doesn't need to keep a finger on his batarangs, or his muscles tensed, or his senses awake to the slightest sound or movement. When he's with Wally, he lets it all go. He can breathe.

 

Dick is aware that this sign is a tad bit more dangerous than the others.

 

...

 

The fifth sign hits the both of them in the gut. Hard. Maybe not at the same time, but at the same force and the same velocity and it _hurts_.

 

It hits Dick first. There's a burning building about to collapse, and the team is almost spent. Miss Martian passes out after a flaming piece of wood smacks her on the head, and Kaldur’ahm drags her out and rests her on the gravel. He stays outside and tries to control the fire with his water bearers, not wanting to be an obstacle to the team on the off-chance that he dehydrates. So it's up to Artemis, Robin, Kid Flash, and Superboy to leap in and out of windows, grab civilians and get them to safety. They get everyone out right before the top floors of the building collapse.

 

It's a perfect mission, Robin thinks; almost too perfect.

 

Then Superboy mentions that he's detected another person in there with his heat vision, and Wally's racing into the building before anyone can blink. Dick feels like he's been punched in the stomach because Wally has just run into, not only a flaming building, but a _collapsing_ one. Robin is suddenly yelling into the comm.link at KF, with no response. Two or three minutes pass by, and Dick knows this is the equivalent of an eternity for a speedster. Not a good sign.

 

A small teenage boy manages to crumble through the door, and Artemis rushes to assist him. No sign of KF. Robin's heart skips a beat. On cue, Superboy leaps into the building in search of the speedster, and reappears with Wally in his arms. Dick can't ignore the pang in his chest at the healing burn on Kid's cheek, and the fact that _he isn't moving_.

 

Superboy assures him, "He's only unconscious."

 

Dick thinks it's a better idea for Wally to get patched up at the medical bay before he punches him in the chest for giving him a heart attack.

 

It hits Wally much later. It's a slow type of pain. The kind that builds up in his chest and gnaws at him from the inside out. He misses Robin. A lot.

 

Except, he isn't Robin anymore, not really.

 

He wears another cold disguise atop his domino mask, the one Wally already despises because it keeps him away from Dick's beautiful azure eyes. His bright outfit has now been replaced by a black suit with a bird insignia, his new name suddenly holds so much more weight, and Wally barely ever sees him anymore because he's moved to Bludhaven. It hurts Wally so much that he can barely stand it. It hurts that this beautiful, dumb boy is pushing him away when they both know that they need each other more than they know.

 

It's those little cracks in the disguise that make Wally's heart flutter. There's an emergency at Star City and a bunch of leaguers have been called in to neutralize the threat. They fall into sync wordlessly. It's so smooth and perfect that it's almost as if they never stopped. Wally runs at full speed and Nightwing throws punches like it's a walk in the park.

 

And _oh_ , he sees the smile again. It's at a fond memory from back when they were kids. It's a memory because the team isn't a team anymore, and they've all grown into their ears and their boots, and seem to want to operate on their own. Wally desperately tries to keep the little grains of sand from slipping between his fingers. He feels fifteen again.

 

Then he sees Nightwing flying, and he hears that laughter and feels the mirth rise up in his chest, and knows that Dick hasn't changed. It’s been the same all these years.

 

Wally is sick of signs. Dick is sick of remembering them. They decide to get to the main event. Wally runs all the way to Bludhaven and nearly knocks down Dick's apartment door, and suddenly the signs don't matter anymore. Wally's lips are on his and his hands are all over him and his brain is nowhere in sight. And they kiss and kiss and kiss, and Dick thinks damn those signs, and pulls Wally closer and closer and closer. And everything falls into place and it's just so _perfect_ that Wally's about to attempt running up a fifty story building if it weren't for the bird perched on his lap.

 

Dick lets the disguise fall away and they're both so raw after waiting so long. They're kissing and hugging and crying and they've never been happier because why the hell did those signs take so damn long for the two to do anything about them?

 

Wally is giddy over how flawlessly meshed they are, and how they place their lives in each other's hands because they know they'd take better care of each other than themselves, and how stupidly beautiful Dick is when he smiles, and how calm and serene he is when they’re wrapped in each other’s arms, and how they're both here because they wouldn't know what to do if it weren't for each other, and they're _alive and breathing and together._

 

Dick feels like he can fly for real this time. And Wally knows that the world can be ending and he'd be okay if he could watch his little bird fly.

 

...

 

 End.

 

 

 

 


End file.
